Sunday September 22, 2013
For
this Monterey Seabirds' pelagic trip we had aboard the Pt. Sur Clipper,
Mike Merlo and Richard Ternullo from Monterey Bay Whale Watch crew
and Seabird leaders Tim Amaral, Alex Rinkert, Rod Norton, and Blake
Matheson.
We started with calm seas and decent visibility, so we headed west
to reach a water break offshore, as is often the case, about 20+ miles
off Pt. Pinos. We skirted the coastline both on the way out and on
the way back, with the intent of finding a blue-footed booby because
of all the reports that were coming in, but alas, it was not to be.
On the other hand, we had a heck of a day. We had good sightings of
black-footed albatross, Buller's shearwater, and jaegers (check out
Jeff Poklen's photo at right). And our best birds were ashy storm-petrel
and tufted puffin.
To wrap the day up, near the beaches of Moss Landing, we had one of
the most amazing feeding frenzies ever seen on a Monterey Seabirds
trip. It was like watching a 4th of July fireworks show but with 8-10
humpback whales lunge-feeding cascades of silvery anchovies while
70 sea lions and 2000 birds churned the sea and sky. For photos, see
the Monterey
Seabirds Facebook page.
| Birds observed: |
| |
Pacific Loon |
|
|
Pomarine Jaeger |
| |
Black-footed Albatross |
|
|
Parasitic Jaeger |
| |
Pink-footed Shearwater |
|
|
Common Murre |
| |
Buller's Shearwater |
|
|
Pigeon Guillemot |
| |
Sooty Shearwater |
|
|
Cassin's Auklet |
| |
Ashy Storm-Petrel |
|
|
Rhinocerous Auklet |
| |
Brandt's Cormorant |
|
|
Tufted Puffin |
| |
Pelagic Cormorant |
|
|
Sabine's Gull |
| |
Brown Pelican |
|
|
Heermann's Gull |
| |
Great Blue Heron |
|
|
Western Gull |
| |
Great Egret |
|
|
California Gull |
| |
Black Turnstone |
|
|
Glaucous-winged Gull |
| |
Surfbird |
|
|
Common Tern |
| |
Red-necked Phalarope |
|
|
Elegant Tern |
| |
Red Phalarope |
|
|
Belted Kingfisher |
Tim Amaral for Monterey
Seabirds
